‘Satluj’ row: Punjab's painful past can't be edited selectively to suit narrative, says Ravneet Bittu

Chandigarh, Jul 12 (PTI) The makers of the Diljit Dosanjh-starrer film ‘Satluj’ cannot hide behind the narrative of “creative freedom” while presenting “disputed claims as established history”, Union minister Ravneet Singh Bittu said on Sunday. Bittu also said that Punjab's painful past is not a script that can be edited selectively to suit a narrative. The Honey Trehan-directed film depicts the life of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, who investigated the “illegal” cremation of thousands of “unidentified” bodies in Punjab between 1984 and 1994. Khalra was abducted from in front of his house in Amritsar in September 1995. He was later found to have been murdered though his body was never found. Earlier titled ‘Punjab ‘95’, the film was pulled from the OTT platform ZEE5 for viewers in India two days following its release on July 3 after the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting cited security concerns. In a statement, Bittu, the minister of state for railways and food processing industries, said, “I challenge the producer and director of ‘Satluj’ to place before the people of Punjab the complete documentary evidence, official records, judicial findings and authenticated data that conclusively establish the figure of 25,000 missing or illegally cremated bodies as portrayed in the film.” “If the figure is based merely on an estimate or allegation, why has it been projected as an established historical fact? Why were viewers not informed that this number was not conclusively established by any final judicial determination?” he asked. Bittu is the grandson of Beant Singh, the sitting Punjab chief minister who was assassinated at the high-security civil secretariat in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995. “I call upon the makers of ‘Satluj’ to publicly release the documentary basis for the figure of 25,000 within a reasonable time. If they fail to substantiate their claim with credible and verifiable evidence, they owe the people of Punjab a clarification that the figure was not an officially verified count,” Bittu said. “We will examine all appropriate legal and constitutional remedies to ensure that historical facts are not misrepresented before the nation. “Punjab's history cannot be rewritten through selective storytelling. Truth must prevail over propaganda, facts over fiction, and evidence over emotion,” he added. Bittu’s remarks came after several Sikh bodies and political outfits in Punjab, including the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), slammed the removal of ‘Satluj’ from ZEE5, saying the movie compels India to confront one of the state's “darkest chapters”, and that “history must be confronted with honesty, not buried through censorship”. Bittu, however, said the people of Punjab deserve answers for “equally disturbing omissions and selective portrayal of Punjab's darkest chapter”. “Why were the massacres of innocent Hindus, bus passengers, shopkeepers, government employees, labourers and ordinary citizens brutally killed by terrorists not depicted with the same intensity? “Why was the immense sacrifice of Punjab Police personnel, security forces and countless brave citizens who fought terrorism underplayed? Why were thousands of families devastated by terrorist violence virtually absent from the narrative?” the Ludhiana MP asked. “Why was one side of history amplified while the sufferings of thousands of others marginalised? Why were controversial claims presented without clearly distinguishing between allegations, estimates and officially established facts?” he added. Bittu also said that no responsible filmmaker has the right to “distort history by presenting contested figures as unquestionable truth”. “Punjab paid a terrible price during the years of terrorism, and every innocent victim deserves justice and remembrance – irrespective of religion, community or ideology,” he said. Coming back to the case, in November 2005, a CBI court had sentenced former DSP Jaspal Singh and ASI Amarjit Singh to life imprisonment for Khalra’s abduction and murder, while four other policemen were handed seven-year jail terms each. In 2007, the Punjab and Haryana High Court acquitted Amarjit Singh while enhancing the sentences of the four other convicts to life imprisonment, a decision that the Supreme Court upheld in 2011. The row over ‘Satluj’ has turned political in Punjab, with the SGPC demanding that the ban be lifted, and the SAD announcing community screening of the film across the state. At some places, Sikh bodies are also holding screenings of the film in village grounds. PTI SUN ARI